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New evidence has come to light regarding CSI‘s upcoming 300th episode, and it points to a guest appearance by Bethany Joy Lenz.

TVLine has learned exclusively that the One Tree Hill alumna has signed on to guest star in the milestone outing as a sexy, seemingly normal-looking mother of two (think soccer mom with an edge).

Episode 300 — slated to air on Oct. 23 and featuring a return appearance by CSI vet Marg Helgenberger— centers on a cold case that “takes our characters back to the beginning,” executive producer Don McGill recently revealed to TVLine. “They have to investigate a murder with the same M.O. and the same suspect from 14 years ago.”

Lenz recently concluded a multi-episode arc on the final season of Dexter.

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Original CSI cast member George Eads has taken a leave of absence from the CBS crime drama, following an on-set altercation with a writer.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the actor will appear in the first three episodes of Season 14, then Nick Stokes will disappear for an assignment in Quantico, as will be explained by Catherine when Marg Helgenberger returns for the series’ 300th episode (airing Oct. 23).

“George Eads will not appear in several episodes during the first half of the season,” reads a statement from CBS Television Studios. “We look forward to him returning to CSI very soon.”

According to THR, Eads recently clashed with the eight-months-pregnant co-writer of the episode he was shooting, arguing about Stokes’ storyline. After word of the encounter got to show boss Carol Mendelsohn, Eads was called on the carpet, where he threatened to quit. Instead, he walked away with a leave of absence.

Eads and castmate Jorja Fox famously were fired from CSI back in 2004, after calling in sick for the first day of shooting Season 5, as a salary renegotiation tactic. That standoff lasted less than two weeks.

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CSI is getting ready to celebrate a major milestone, with a little help from former leading lady Marg Helgenberger.

TVLine has learned exclusively that the fan fave — who departed the series midway through Season 12 — will reprise her role as Catherine Willows in the CBS procedural’s landmark 300th episode.

“We were just really excited to have Marg come back because, obviously, she’s such an important part of the history of CSI,” executive producer Don McGill shares. “And she was super excited. It was kismet!”

The milestone hour, airing later this fall, centers on a fictional cold case, one that “takes our characters back to the beginning,” McGill reveals. “They have to investigate a murder with the same M.O. and the same suspect from 14 years ago.”

Helgenberger’s return comes partly via a series of recreated flashbacks, or ”faux-backs,” as McGill calls them. Explains the EP: “We will flash back 14 years to seminal moments that show Catherine, Nick (George Eads), Sara (Jorja Fox), Greg (Eric Szmanda) and Ecklie (Marc Vann) as they were, [and how that] informed the evolution of the characters now. It’s going to be a really fun episode, very emotional, that honors 14 years of CSI.”

UPDATE: Not long after TVLine broke the news, Helgenberger celebrated by tweeting a “reunion” photo:

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Hart of Dixie‘s Tim Matheson is again playing doctor, in a two-episode arc on CSI. Only this time, it sounds like he might leave a lot of (gulp) dead bodies in his wake.

TVLine has learned exclusively that Matheson will guest-star in the CBS crime drama’s Season 13 finale (airing May 15) as Mr. Tate, a handsome, sophisticated and highly intelligent Ph.D. and M.D. who emerges as a suspect in a series of Dante’s Inferno-themed killings.

Matheson will continue the role this fall, in the already renewed series‘ Season 14 opener.

In addition to his current run on The CW’s Hart of Dixie (where he also directed the upcoming Season 2 finale), Matheson’s TV credits include The West Wing and, more recently, Burn Notice and White Coll